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Violin and music

Concert Reviews

Balakirev/Glazunov/Rachmaninov - Valery Gergiev/Roman Simovic

19 February 2015

The Times, 23 February 2015Simovic played with both physical and linguistic ease, guiding the bittersweet cadenza through to a rondo finale both rough-hewn and bucolic. Here was village fiddler turned virtuoso. Simovic gleefully took risks exceeded only in his chosen encore: the long and devilish transcription made by Nathan Milstein of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No. 1. This brought the house down.Read full review (subscription required)

Seen and Heard, 22 February 2015This was clearly a well-rehearsed performance, the upper strings supremely together at speed, the brass a wall of magnificence. There was a Tchaikovskian depth of emotion to the long-breathed lines here, the dark side of the piece fully honoured in the first movement so that the Mendelssohnian flickerings of the second movement could make their full mark. The finale had a fascinating underlying joyous feel and a wonderful lyric outpouring. Rachmaninov surely dreamt of a performance such as this.Read full review

Bachtrack, 20 February 2015The soloist was Roman Simovic, familiar to audiences as the orchestra's leader since 2010. He is a stylish player with a sweet lyrical sound and his performance of the Glazunov was neatly self-contained. The slow section flowed beautifully... Milstein's transcription of themes from Liszt's Mephisto Waltz no.1, allowed Simovic to display demonic virtuosity at greater length in an encore.Read full review

Telegraph, 20 February 2015Roman Simovic had a delightfully sweet-toned lyricism, and an easy, smiling virtuosity. It was just what was needed to reveal the charm in this somewhat earnest, solidly-crafted piece. In his encore, Simovic carried off a feat that on the face of it seems impossible; recreating the heroic piano pyrotechnics of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz no 1, on the four strings of a violin. He made it seem entirely natural.Read full review

Classical Source, 20 February 2015The Symphony was so finely interpreted, setting off different moods and characters in excellent fashion. The problematic opening viola bars in the Scherzo were also admirably solved, Gergiev's tempos throughout being wholly convincing, revealing the astonishing originality of this work to the full.Read full review

Liszt/Mahler - Gianandrea Noseda/Alice Sara Ott

15 February 2015

The Sunday Times, 22 February 2015Her [Alice Sara Ott] virtuosity was breathtaking, as was the disjunction between her slender, barefooted prescence and the simply feral assault she mounted on the instrument's bass register near the start. Her total command of this exhibitionistic though compelling music, along with Gianandrea Noseda's fiery Italianate conducting, made the performance treasurable.Read full review (subscription required)

The Times, 18 February 2015The playing was furiously intense and engaged, hard in on the heel of the bow, brutally heavy on the bass. Noseda's Sixth leaves little room to breathe, let along think. It is certainly arresting, this fast-boiling brew of feverish trills, vicious percussion, menacing brass and cimbalom-like confection of harp and cellos; less premonition of tragedies to come than a roar of fury at tragedies already visited.Read full review (subscription required)

The Guardian, 17 February 2015Noseda's approach - never indulgent, always rhythmically taut - perfectly conveyed the sense of its four-movement classical proportions, even with the orchestral apparatus such a vast one, and the music operating over such a span of time. Read full review

Seen and Heard, 17 February 2015This evening of Liszt and Mahler was possibly the best purely orchestral concert I can ever remember! I do not have the words to descibe the Finale enough... Even though I knew what was coming the brass seemed to lull me into a false sense of security making the last fortissimo A minor full orchestra chord even more terrifying in its suddenness than I can ever remember hearing it before. It was as if I had glimpsed Mahler's soul.Read full review

Telegraph, 16 February 2015The soloist was Alice Sara Ott, who despite her sylph-like frame, made the military rodomontade of Liszt's piece ring out with heroic force.The real challenge [of the Mahler] is the half-hour Finale. This has to recover from the two "hammer-blows" of fate, only to fall at the last, a narrative Noseda shaped with unerring skill.Read full review

Bachtrack, 15 February 2015Noseda never let the tension flag once in the long finale, driving on from climax to climax, undercut at each turn, the orchestra responding with vivid playing. A staggering, exhausting, high-octane performance.Read full review

Classical Source, 15 February 2015Her [Alice Sara Ott's] virtuosity, of the highest technical accomplishment, was always placed at the service of the music and the wide-ranging journey the Concerto undertakes. Ott additionally gave us great power and drive where necessary; in all, a very fine rendition, such as one rarely encounters in any music.Read full review

Brennan/Berlioz/Tchaikovsky - Sir Mark Elder/Susan Graham

5 February 2015

Classical Source, 5 February 2015Graham, in velvety voice, sang within herself but always with vividness and import, expressing from the heart the solitariness of lost love and such haunted images as a cemetery bathed in moonlight and doing so with a real feel for the eerily picturesque.Read full review

The Guardian, 6 February 2015... such a performance, full of carefully chiselled detail, made the case for the symphony as one of the great achievements of late Romanticism far better than any more histrionic one might have done.Read full review

Bachtrack, 6 February 2015Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony was given a powerhouse rendition which had many things to admire in it. Turbo-charged string playing, light-as-a-feather flutes and lacerating brass were all on aural display, yet it was the quiet playing which impressed most.Read full review

Seen and Heard, 8 Feb 2015The finale, blessed with superbly controlled strings, breathed beautifully without taking us to a place of absolute stillness. This was a thought-provoking reading to end a thought-provoking concert.Read full review

Webern/Beethoven/Brahms - David Afkam/Nicholas Angelich

1 February 2015

Sunday Times Culture, 8 February 2015The young German conductor David Afkam's Barbican account with the LSO of Brahms's Symphony No 2 was idiomatic, deeply felt and vigorous - altogether distinguished.

Hosokawa/Ravel/Mahler - Robin Ticciati/Simon Trpceski/Karen Cargill

25 January 2015

Seen and Heard International, 26 January 2015The whip crack that begins Ravel's G major concerto took us into a vastly different sound world. Simon Trpčeski and the orchestra played up the jazzy elements of the opening movement with a good deal of flair.Read full review

The Guardian, 27 January 2015If the Hosokawa glowed from within, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G positively glittered, thanks to pianist Simon Trpčeski, whose playing was witty, buoyant and always in cahoots with the orchestra.Read full review

Seen and Heard, 26 January 2015The LSO’s playing was superlative in every way, throughout the concert.Read full review

Bachtrack, 26 January 2015The quality of the LSO’s string sound is well known and loved, but in case anyone had forgotten, this work provided a splendid showcase for it: richness, lustre and precision dynamics.Read full review

Classical Source, 26 January 2015Ticciati's conducting was made the more impressive by his insistence on a wide gradation of dynamic, even down to ppp, and wonderfully observed, raising the stature of this very well-played performance by several cubits. Recently the LSO has given us truly memorable accounts of Mahler symphonies - the Ninth under Daniel Harding and the First from Nikolaj Znaider - and Ticciati's was fully in the same class.Read full review

Financial Times, 20 January 2015The overture to Verdi's La forza del destino hurtled to its fate. The Spanish dances in the second suite from Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat pounded the red-hot earth. Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol sizzles at full force in the midday heat.Read full review (subscription required)

Seen and Heard, 19 January 2015To close we heard Rimsky’s splendid Capriccio espagnol, an abandoned, bright and jolly display of the very first order. The piece is a splendid romp, and it was clear the orchestra enjoyed themselves as much as the audience.Read full review

The Independent, 19 January 2015This unashamedly showy work may be a mere parade of effects, but with live-wire direction from the Chinese conductor Xian Zhang, Lisitsa and the London Symphony Orchestra beat up an admirable storm. Zhang and Lisitsa seem made for each other.Read full review

Classical Source, 19 January 2015 ...we were in good hands. Zhang’s conducting was intensely dramatic and appealingly lyrical in turn, and her intense rapport with the LSO was clear enough.Read full review

Bachtrack, 19 January 2015Zhang drew playing of such brio from the LSO... the ballet’s finale, found brass and percussion stamping out the rhythms, castanets employed enthusiastically.Read full review

Webern/Berg/Ligeti/Stravinsky - Sir Simon Rattle/Barbara Hannigan

15 January 2015

The Express, 25 January 2015The concert ended with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Rattle and the LSO captured the primitive energy of the score, and the dark foreboding that leads to the final sacrifice. Unforgettable.Read full review

The Sunday Times, 25 January 2015The soprano Barbara Hannigan was the passionately assured soloist in a moving, thrilling evocation of the opera; and, tricked out as a saucy schoolgirl in white shirt and tartan miniskirt, she easily met Ligeti's madcap demands in Mysteries of the Macabre.Read full review (subscription required)

musicOMH, 21 January 2015Rattle led an assured and compelling interpretation, rich in colour and detail and achieving a terrifying climax in the fourth movement funeral march... Luxuriance of texture and intensity of emotion were the hallmarks of the performance of Berg’s Three Fragments from Wozzeck that followed.Read full review

The Times, 19 January 2015The Webern was made to sound like Mahler taken to the next level: harmonically abrasive and orchestrally deconstructed, yet full of late romantic anguish made thrillingly vivid.Read full review (subscription required)

The Daily Telegraph, 19 January 2015Rattle, for his part, threw himself into the antics of Ligeti’s piece with gusto.Read full review

The Observer, 18 January 2015...he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra on Thursday in Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring with a zest, fury and joy that stirred a thrilling sense of renewal in these dark days. In this, and in Webern’s haunting Six Pieces for Orchestra, the LSO’s playing was at once meticulous and, as required, explosive.Read full review

Financial Times, 18 January 2015As the second part unfolded its slow, atmopsheric introduction, Rattle seemed to plunge ever deeper into some far-distant world. The LSO players seconded him wholeheartedly, as they had all evening.Read full review

Bachtrack, 18 January 2015The LSO’s performance was absolutely stunning; they not only played it faultlessly, but managed to convey the emotional depth of the Six Pieces convincingly.Read full review

Classical Source, 16 January 2015He brought the Pieces alive, the LSO confident of every colour, nuance and dovetailing phrase... from suspenseful shadows to a seismic and desperate climax, and then a shocking silence in its aftermath.Read full review

Schumann - Sir Simon Rattle

11 January 2015

The Sunday Times, 25 January 2015Impassioned contributions from everyone involved... and the soprano Sally Matthews in the title role shatteringly resplendent. Mark Padmore was a fiercely eloquent Narrator, the LSO Chorus a potent force.Read full review (subscription required)

The Times, 13 January 2015Rattle polished up these jewels to a glittering shine.Read full review (subscription required)

The Guardian, 13 January 2015Mark Padmore was a model of clarity as the narrator, Bernarda Fink her usual unfussy, perfectly poised self as the Angel, while having Kate Royal, Andrew Staples and Florian Boesch (spellbinding in his aria at the beginning of the third part) as the other soloists made for a luxury lineup.Read full review

Classical Music Magazine, 12 January 2015In Rattle’s hands, the work leapt forward, lithe and wary... the male chorus exploded with shocking force, evoking war and ‘rivers of blood’. Even their English consonants couldn’t dampen the seething energy chorus master Simon Halsey had inspired from them.Read full review

The Telegraph, 12 January 2015...he drew refined playing from the strings and winds especially. The LSO hasn’t often played with such cultivation recently.Read full review

The Independent, 12 January 2015Rattle and co gave it the best possible airing, with Mark Padmore as the narrator, Sally Matthews as the Peri, and a first-class line-up of subsidiary soloists.Read full review

London Evening Standard, 12 January 2015Sally Matthews as the Peri fully engaged our sympathies for the resourceful spirit, capturing alike her plaintive entreaties and her vibrant exultation at the prospect of redemption.Read full review

The Arts Desk, 12 January 2015But best of all was Rattle himself... technically, his conducting was flawless, and his ability to negotiate Schumann’s often abrupt transitions gave the piece a sense of flow it may otherwise have lacked. His communication with the musicians is direct and powerful, the result more of a shared passion than of any histrionics at the podium. Read full review

Classical Source, 12 January 2015The classical-sized LSO (with five double basses) was at its elegant best in Schumann’s luminous orchestration, and Rattle’s empathy with the work’s symphonic weight and song-like intimacy transcended its sentimental origin.Read full review

Opera Brittania, 12 JanuaryRattle carefully marshalled these forces: his ear for balance remains as keen as ever, and there were some ravishing examples of phrase and hushed dynamic. But what really impressed anew was his ability simply – simply! – to enable a performance, rather than impose one.Read full review

Bachtrack, 12 January 2015The music in Parts III and IV continued to be full of melody and full of contrasts, Rattle's sense of pace and balance continued to display the LSO at their very best.Read full review

Aaron Parker/Beethoven/Mahler - Nikolaj Znaider/Rudolf Buchbinder

18 December 2014

Bachtrack, 19 Dec 2014... the LSO players have an uncanny ability to maintain their tonal control even at the very loudest dynamics. The endings of the first, second and fourth movements were just stunning, not only for the raw energy, but for the way that the climaxes had been carefully prepared.Read full review

Classical Source, 19 Dec 2014The concert ended with Mahler’s First Symphony. It is no exaggeration to say that this was a superlative account, conducted by Znaider from memory, utterly gripping and involving from first bar to last. In the course of more than fifty years of concert-going and record-collecting I do not think I have heard a greater performance than this – equal, but none greater.Read full review

LSO On Film: The Magic and Majesty of Alexandre Desplat

11 December 2014

CultureFly, 12 Dec 2014As the evening draws to a close, Desplat makes sure to save a little magic for the finale, ending on The Imitation Game, Harry Potter and his work in French cinema. The applause echoing through the Barbican is enthusiastic and well deserved.Read full review

The Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition

Brahms - Daniel Harding/Emanuel Ax

7 December 2014

Classical Source, 8 DecHarding kept all the checks and balances of orchestral splendor and chamber-music intimacy moving with tactful control, and the LSO’s playing was at its superlative, radiant best.Read full review

Singapore & Australia Tour - Valery Gergiev/Denis Matsuev

17–30 November 2014

Melbourne, Arts Centre Melbourne: 28 November

Herald Sun, 1 Dec 2014In the Classical Symphony of Prokofiev the strings particularly impressed. The exposed, stratospheric first-violin figures of the first movement were delicate but never tentative, and the impossibly quick finale was exhilarating for its sparkling precision.Read full review

Sydney Morning Herald, 1 Dec 2014... the body is finely honed with elegant, assertive strings and splendid first-desk personnel among the woodwind, notably the principal flute and oboe.Read full review

Sydney, Sydney Opera House: 26 November

Sydney Morning Herald, 27 Nov 2014Demonic in quick music, musically absorbed in slow, he mesmerised the audience with his performance of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev with commanding concentration and incisiveness.Read full review

Limelight Magazine, 27 Nov 2014... this was Gergiev and his wonderful band setting up their stall in spectacular fashion under 33-year-old leader Roman SimovicRead full review

Sydney, Sydney Opera House: 25 November

Sydney Morning Herald, 26 Nov 2014The most impressive element, however, was their responsiveness. Getting 100 people to play as one is hard. Getting them to change direction, or speed, or mood, on a dime, is quite extraordinary. At times it felt like they were making it up as they went along, changing pace on a whim, and yet I struggled to hear a single note out of place. Read full review

Limelight Magazine, 26 Nov 2014[Shostakovich Symphony No 10] is a Gergiev speciality and the LSO’s performance last night could probably not have been bettered anywhere on the planet.Read full review

Sydney, Sydney Opera House: 24 November

Sydney Morning Herald, 25 Nov 2014It was in moments like the second theme of the third movement, that the deep cohesion and unanimity of the LSO's strings shone through, while the finale rejoiced in shrill swagger from the clarinet and raucous percussion.Read full review

Bachtrack, 25 Nov 2014Right from the opening chord, every phrase, every entry, every musical question and its response was presented in a phenomenally translucent way, heard like this only on rare occasions – not only in Australian concert halls but anywhere around the world.Read full review

Limelight Magazine, 25 Nov 2014[Prokofiev Symphony No 5] is one of the few dozen or so genuinely great symphonies of the 20th century and Gergiev and LSO gave the most powerful and intense performances I’ve ever heard.Read full review

The Daily Telegraph, 25 Nov 2014piano, strings and brass (including a show-stopping trumpet solo) all shone as they teased out the cruelty and pain in the sad tale of the puppet PetrushkaRead full review

Brisbane, Queensland Performing Arts Centre: 22 November 2014

The Australian, 24 Nov 2014...so searing was the orchestral sound, so thrilling the sense that everyone, right to the back desks of the strings, was playing for their lives.Read full review

Singapore, The Esplanade: 20 November 2014

The Straits Times, 21 Nov 2014Gergiev broke the mould with comfortable tempos for the first three movements, and a brisk but unhurried finale. The finesse and obvious ability of all the musicians made for a polished performanceRead full review

Singapore, The Esplanade: 19 November 2014

The Straits Times, 20 Nov 2014The rousing brass fanfare was followed by a series of impressive solo runs from the woodwinds, establishing the tenor of the work, which flourished on its fast-paced and high-octane delivery.Read full review

Balakirev/Rachmaninov - Valery Gergiev/Denis Matsuev

Tue 11 Nov 2014

Bachtrack, 12 NovUnder Gergiev’s burning gaze, the LSO carved out a searing Rachmaninov Third Symphony that almost left scorch marks on the Barbican Hall’s wood panelling.Read full review

Classical Source, 12 NovThis was Gergiev and the LSO at their finest, performing music by his great fellow-countryman with extraordinary insight and technical command, passionate yet never overdone.Read full review

The Observer, 9 NovThe choruses, terrifically delivered by the London Symphony Chorus, range from hymn-like to snarling. If the work continues the musical line stretching from Elgar’s Gerontius to Britten’s War Requiem, no one should complain.Read full review

Sunday Times, 9 NovSimon Halsey had trained the chorus to a high incisiveness. And the orchestra gave, as it always does, everything it had to the score - one that stood out for absolute clarity of effect, harmonic control, professionalism of every kind.Read full review (subscription required)

The Times, 4 NovThe score is cunningly and energetically crafted ... the music is by turns impassioned, brittle, ironic and enraptured.Read full review (subscription required)

Financial Times, 3 NovBeamish has paced Equal Voices skilfully and the work feels less than its 50 minutes. But it is ultimately the poetry that packs the punch. Gianandrea Noseda conducted the London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra in a tightly-controlled performance.Read full review

The Guardian, 3 NovThen for something utterly, exhilaratingly different came Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, played with such astonishing freshness, clarity and unfussy poetry by Nelson Freire, that it seemed as if he and we in the audience were discovering it all over again.Read full review

Classical Source, 3 NovThe most successful aspect of Equal Voices was the urgent reportage style of Marcus Farnsworth’s vivid singing. He released the bite of Motion’s poetry with compelling drama, and there was a similar immediacy to the short, dour, impressionist orchestral interludes that occur through the work’s five sections.Read full review

London Evening Standard, 3 NovSally Beamish’s new commission, Equal Voices, proved an ambitious, moving commemoration of the centenary of the First World War... the final section, with its epic sweep and spiritual uplift, soared onto a new level.Read full review

The Telegraph, 3 NovIn the end it was the naïve fervour of the Elgar which actually lingered in the mind. That, and something which had nothing whatever to do with the First World War; a wonderful, glowing performance of Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto from Nelson Freire.Read full review

Debussy/Mozart/Brahms - Bernard Haitink/Mitsuko Uchida

Thu 30 Oct 2014

Bachtrack, 2 NovNo gimmicks, no concern for what might be currently fashionable, just honesty, integrity and a tangible reverence for the music.Read full review

Classical Source, 31 OctSupple strings and woodwinds also played their part in achieving a dynamic, fluid musical argument... in an account as close to definitive as one is likely to encounter in a concert-hall today.Read full review

Boulezian, 31 OctBrahms’s final symphony – there is none greater since Beethoven – was renewed, reinvigorated, tragic in every proper sense.Read full review

The Artsdesk, 31 OctHaitink can do what very few other conductors in the world achieve without fuss. He makes the opening string sighs instantly take wing; he lifts their big moment of heartease and handles the time-standing-still mystery between development and recap like no other interpreter.Read full review

Mahler - Daniel Harding

Sun 26 Oct 2014

musicOMH, 30 OctThe daringly slow and hushed interpretation of the coda was rewarded by the quietest audience I’ve ever heard.Read full review

The Times, 28 OctThe LSO at full tilt is a terrifying, glamorous beastRead full review (subscription required)

Classical Source, 27 OctThe LSO played to its highest standard – which is saying something – but the honours go to Harding, whose handling of the work was masterly.Read full review

Bachtrack, 27 OctThe LSO players, as expected, sounded marvellous... the final notes were followed by a silence that lasted seemingly forever – a fitting response to a truly remarkable performance.Read full review

The Guardian, 27 OctThis was not, Harding seemed determined to assert, the music of a man whose life was closing in on him. There was even more of that take in the darker rondo-burlesque third movement, fabulously played by the LSO, where the manic defiance had tremendous life and spirit.Read full review

Bruckner - Bernard Haitink

Thu 23 Oct 2014

London Evening Standard, 24 OctAnd for the privilege of experiencing this towering masterpiece in the hands of one of the great conductors of the day, one can only be profoundly thankful.Read full review

The Guardian, 24 OctIt was quite simply a privilege to hear such Brucknerian mastery at work.Read full review

Classical Source, 24 OctAll told, however, there are few conductors or orchestras capable of doing equal justice to Bruckner today, and this LSO/Haitink partnership provided yet another overwhelming experience.Read full review

Bachtrack, 24 OctAnd the ending was spectacular, the coda carefully shaped and graded to prepare the brass-emblazoned chords in the final bars. Haitink was in his element here, giving us a triumphant and glorious conclusion.Read full review

musicOMH, 24 Oct

Magnificent, moving and memorable – these are the first three adjectives that spring to mind when describing this thrilling performance of Bruckner’s momentous 8th Symphony, played with complete assurance by the LSO under the magisterial baton of Bernard Haitink.Read full review

Panufnik/Schumann/Strauss - Sir Antonio Pappano/Piotr Adnerszewski

Sun 19 Oct 2014

The Guardian, 22 OctThe brilliance of it all lay in Pappano’s refusal to see Strauss's score as the last word in self-referential irony, and to remind us that its emotions, its pride, anger and beauty, are genuine and run deep.Read full review

The Times, 22 OctThe LSO's sharp perfection helped the piece to make its mark. So did the enthusiasm of Antonio Pappano, who tore into its geometrically conceived structures with the epxressive glee of someone conducting a romantic masterpiece.Read full review (subscription required)

Financial Times, 21 OctPappano’s “hero” was rugged, outgoing, super-confident, striding forwards in playing that was consistently red-blooded. Not much light and shade, not much elegance, but this was a hero whose victory over his critics was never in doubt.Read full review

The Telegraph, 20 OctAntonio Pappano may have been conducting Panufnik for the first time, yet he seemed completely attuned to the score’s autumnal tone and he drew a performance of warm intensity.Read full review

Bachtrack, 20 OctThe outrageous over-the-top mock histrionics of Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben was given the Rolls Royce treatment by Pappano and the LSO.Read full review

Classical Source, 20 Oct‘The Hero’ had ardour and panache, archly undercut by the ‘Adversaries’ (its intricate textures finely delineated by LSO brass and woodwind), before leader Roman Simovic brought intransigence then consolation to the ‘Companion’ episode which almost managed not to outstay its welcome.Read full review

Ravel/Bartók/Tchaikovsky - Sir Antonio Pappano/Janine Jansen

Thu 16 Oct 2014

Classical Source, 16 OctThere was much to enjoy musically, though... the opening ‘Kingdom of Sweets’ scene (unexpected!) was rapturous, and later there was no lack of power, passion and colour; plenty of suave characterisation, too.Read full review

Bachtrack, 16 OctThe scherzo-like second movement suited Jansen perfectly, alternating between powerfully aggressive and slower, almost melancholic, sections. Though it wasn’t always pretty, her sheer passion and intensity impressed; certainly a powerhouse reading of one of the most demanding concertos in the repertoire.Read full review

Dukas/Beethoven/Rimsky-Korsakov - Rafael Payare/Elisabeth Leonskaja

Thu 9 Oct 2014

The Times, 13 OctThe fantasy tales were told with a long-sighted vision of what held them together. And this performance was a chance to be treated to the solo playing of the LSO’s leader, Gordan Nikolitch, and that of principal cello, Tim Hugh, too. Delicious clarinet and bassoon solos gurgled their way through Payare’s rolling seascapes.Read full review (subscription required)

Bachtrack, 10 OctAfter a slightly shaky opening few bars, Payare brought out a taut performance, brimming with confidence and enjoyment.Read full review

Classical Source, 9 Oct...this was a fresh, respectful yet individual interpretation, thought-through and full of Eastern Promise, with the third-movement ‘The Young Prince and the Young Princess’ beautifully serene and eloquently turned.Read full review

Mendelssohn/Schumann - Sir John Eliot Gardiner/Gautier Capuçon

Thu 2 Oct 2014

Classical Source, 3 Oct The fearsome power which Gardiner and the LSO wrought in the first movement’s development was carried over into the scherzo, instilling the latter with considerable vigour and weight, as though trying to make its apparent frivolity at one with the work at large.Read full review

Prokofiev/Tchaikovsky - Valery Gergiev/Denis Matsuev

Tue 23 Sep 2014

The Observer, 28 SepThe second concert, last Tuesday (also broadcast live on Radio 3), opened energetically with the LSO strings nimble and fearless in Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony No 1 – sounding easy, though in truth full of technical treachery.Read full review

Sunday Times, 28 SepHis formidable virtousity was called on, not so much in the name of diabolical ingenuity as of sheer splendour – cascades of shattering octaves, glorious armfuls of notes, a sizzling rhythmic display... It was fascinating to hear this work again. And the account of Prokofiev's mighty, somehow celebratory Fifth was outstanding in every way.Read full review (subscription required)

Classical Source, 24 SepIn the right music – as here – Gergiev and the LSO are well-nigh invincible. On this form the LSO has nothing to fear from any other orchestra.Read full review

Tishchenko/Prokofiev/Shostakovich - Valery Gergiev/Denis Matsuev

Sun 21 Sep 2014

The Times, 23 SepFrom the grimacing chuckles of Rachel Gough's bassoon to Andrew Marriner's softly devastating clarinet, Gergiev harnessed the skill of his players and built up the churning textures to explosive heights.Read full review (subscription required)

The Guardian, 22 SepShostakovich’s Tenth Symphony threw the spotlight in turn on to a dozen outstanding solo players in the LSO’s wind and brass. Gergiev’s ability to pace and sustain the long climaxes in this composer’s symphonies remains exemplary, and the second movement went at a brutal, exhilarating gallop.Read full review

The Telegraph, 22 SepAll the ballast came at the end in the guise of Shostakovich’s Tenth, played with a mix of brooding intensity and blistering attack.Read full review

Financial Times, 22 SepMatsuev was born with 10 hammers where other people have fingers and his performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3 caught him at his most virtuoso, fast, furious and percussive, forging industrial music at fever pitch.Read full review

London Evening Standard, 22 SepGergiev also gave us the real thing: Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony, big, bold and blatant when it needed to be, but also exuding refined pungency.Read full review